Pained answer

12:00AM BST 16 Jul 2001

SIR - Sir Michael Hogg, Bt, was, indeed, a genial journalist of mordant wit (obituary, Jul 14 ). When the Telegraph's magazine was launched in the 1960s, he was asked why the shark in a picture of a Mediterranean diving expedition appeared in such pain.

Michael replied: "Because he is dead, is being towed by a vessel above for photographic realism and is worried how he is going to get through customs at Alexandria."